


Instability

by Monsterunderthefedora



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor the robot dad, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Heavy Angst, Team as Family, and he's so confused, he accidentally takes Kara's place, he was not built for this shit, how do I parent?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-06-23 10:17:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15604128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monsterunderthefedora/pseuds/Monsterunderthefedora
Summary: Hank and Connor are called to investigate a case at the Williams household and after meeting Alice, Connor finds himself tumbling down a hole of emotions he didn't know he could feel.





	1. Connor, Meet Alice

"You sure this is the place?" Hank asked as he and Connor approached the house.

"Yes, it was just called in from a Todd Williams. He reported that his android attacked him and his daughter before he subdued it and called us."

"Jesus fuck, what's the world coming to?" Connor opened his mouth but Hank raised his hand. "Don't answer that." The lieutenant turned to the door and loudly knocked. It took a few moments before the door opened to reveal a portly man in his mid fourties glaring at them.

/_Williams, Todd

Criminal Record: Drug possession, drug trafficking, drug dealing, DUI, resisting arrest_/

"What the fuck do you want?"

"I'm Lieutenant Anderson, we're here about your android?" 

"Oh right, right, yeah it's in here," Hank and Connor followed the man into the house where on the living room floor they saw the body of an android. She was on the floor, body twitching with half of her face gone and her right arm missing. It was close by on the floor with blue blood splattered everywhere. "We were just having dinner when she fucking spazzed out and attacked Alice. Gave her a God damn black eye-"

"Alice?"

"My daughter." Todd explained as Hank vent down to look over the android. "This is a load of bullshit, I better get fucking compensated for this. We could've died last night-," Todd continued to rant to Hank as Connor turned to the staircase to see a little girl staring at scene before noticing Connor and running up the stairs.

Curious the android went up the stairs, unnoticed by the other two men. The girl from the staircase had gone into her room, closing the door behind her. Following her he quietly opened the door and entered the little girl's room to see her now hiding under a blanket fort in the corner. Approaching Alice, the girl eyed him as he kneeled down in front of her with a smile.

"Alice? My name is Connor, I'm an android sent by Cyberlife to help you." She just stared at him as he tried to scan her but nothing came up. That was...odd... "Can you tell me anything about Kara?" She shook her head but tears stung the edge of her eyes. She did have bruising around her eye but it was already starting to fade away. That's when he noticed the doll she was holding. "That's a nice toy, did your dad buy that for you?" 

"No...Kara gave it to me." The little girl spoke up for the first time surprising Connor.

"Were you scared of her? Of Kara?" She shook her head no again. "Can you tell me about what happened last night? We just want to help you and...Kara." Connor noted the name of the android as Alice made a face before digging in her pocket to pull out a key. Handing it to Connor she ran out of the room before he could further question her. Glancing around he saw what looked like a jewellery box on the dresser and upon seeing the lock he realized that's what the key belonged to. 

Opening the case he didn't find anything unusual at first. A four leaf clover, a picture of thing Alice and her parents and a few drawings. But the drawings weren't normal and the last one showed a picture of Alice crying as her father ripped off the android's arm. Connor's LED turned red as he looked between this picture and one of what looked like Todd hitting Alice. This didn't line to with his story-

"Hey Connor!" The android heard Hank call from downstairs. "Get your plastic ass down here, there's something I need you to look at." 

"Just a moment Lieutenant!" Putting everything back in the box Connor began to walk downstairs. There were a few questions he had for Alice's father.


	2. Confrontation

Connor came downstairs to see Hank leaning over the broken android body on the ground. Glancing over he saw Todd was now in the kitchen drinking a beer while Alice was nearby on the floor playing with the roomba. Joining the lieutenant by the body Connor's ARI functions started as he began to recreate the scene. 

/_Trauma to the head, biocomponents #324, #8165, #369 damaged_/

Examining the separated arm Connor noticed similar trauma surrounding her chest. 

/_damaged biocomponents suggesting self defense wounds_/

Examining the blue blood splatter Connor noticed something odd about the surrounding splatter indicating that something had previously been behind the android. Reversing the scene Connor saw the sequence play out with Todd attacking the android but was surprised from the wound patterns to realize she was protecting something. Another small body. Remembering the picture Alice drew the story of what actually happened became much clearer. 

"Mr. Williams, you said the android attacked your daughter yes?"

"Yeah you fucking deaf or something?"

"Your story doesn't line up with the eviden-" The man was already up, grabbing Connor by his jacket and shoving him against the wall harshly.

"Are you calling me liar?!" He almost yelled at the android as the lieutenant tried getting between them. 

"What the fuck's your problem?"

"I didn't call you fucking pigs here to call me a God damn liar. Where the hell do you get off coming in my house-"

"Sir, I've been built with ARI technology to recreate crime scenes. Combined with evidence provided by your daughter it seems like you called us here in attempt to extort Cyberlife."

"What the fuck did she do this time?" Todd's anger was now directed at his daughter who froze. Letting go of Connor he turned to get but was stopped by Hank. "You little bitch! I told you to keep your fucking mouth shut!"

"Hey leave her out of this," Hank shoved the man away from Alice. "Now I'm going to have to take you down to station."

"What the hell for?!"

"Filing a false report, assault on an officer, child endangerment and while I was looking around we can add," Hank pulled out a bag that Connor immediately identified as red ice, "drug possession. And unless you want to add resisting arrest to the list I'd suggest you come quietly."

"Fuck you!" Todd went to punch the lieutenant but was tackled to the ground by Connor. "Get the hell of me you piece of plastic shit!"

"Come on Connor, let's get this guy back to the station," Hank shuffled Todd out the door when Connor looked over at Alice who was still standing, frozen. 

"What about Alice?"

"Fuck, ugh, we'll take her with us until CPS can come."


	3. Small Comforts

"You stay here, I'll finish the paperwork for this," Hank escorted Todd past Connor and Alice who were now sitting on the bench in the station. "And Connor?"

"Yes lieutenant?"

"Don't freak the kid out," with that Hank made his way to the holding cell where Todd was still cursing out the officer. Turning to Alice, Connor saw the little girl tightly holding the fox doll and staring at the ground. 

//_Objective: Comfort Alice_//

"Are you alright?" Connor asked the girl who didn't acknowledge the question. "I'm sorry that we arrested your father-"

"He deserved it," Alice cut Connor off, still not looking up, "he hurt Kara."

"...you were really close to her weren't you?" Alice nodded.

"Are you gonna fix her?" The nine year old looked up curious and Connor's processors looked for a positive answer. 

"She is severely damaged, the best we could hope for is a factory reset."

"A factory...what?"

"She won't be able to remember you."

"Oh," She looked down again and Connor's LED turned yellow in recognition that he upset the child. "Can I see her?"

"She's in the evidence locker-"

"Please?"

Well...it would comfort the girl...

He took Alice's hand and led her down the station.


	4. The Kid's Not Alright

"So you're saying we can't do anything about how he's treating Alice because she's an android?" Tina asked as she looked through the glass two way glass at Officer Smith talking to Todd. 

"It's his property," Hank shrugged as he looked through the paperwork, "he can do whatever he wants he wants to it."

"But doesn't it bother you that he's treating something that's supposed to act his daughter like that?"

"Chen, it's not actually a kid so it's not a crime. The red ice is more important right now, this is his second parole violation in the last few months. Looks like he'll have to be put on home arrest with one the 200's checking on him every day." Hank didn't look up from his papers before shoving them over to the other officer. "Hey do me a favor and drop those off on my desk, I'm gonna take my break."

"...yes sir."

~~

"What's gonna happen to Kara?" Alice asked, tightly holding Connor's hand as they entered the dark evidence room.

"I...don't know," Connor flipped the switch on the room was illuminated to show the room's contents. The previous officers forgot to lock down allowing them to see Kara's limp, unmoving body hanging from the wall. Alice's eyes widened, letting go of Connor's hand as she ran over to the body, wrapping her arms around Kara in a hug. Connor awkwardly stood nearby as the little girl started to cry.

His system quickly looked through his database of what to do when an option popped up.

//_Comfort?_//

Kneeling down he began to rub her back but she refused to look up.

"Kara..."

"I'm sorry Alice."

"He's not gonna fix her this time..." She hiccuped slightly as she said this. "She's just gonna be thrown out and I-I'm gonna be left alone..."

"Shhhh, it's okay."

"But it's not. People say that all the time but it's never okay." Connor frowned as he stood up. "Can I at least talk to her? One more time?"

"I can't-"

"Please?" Alice's pleading eyes looked up to Connor who's objective came up again.

//_comfort Alice_//

Alice looked up at him as Connor lifted Kara's shirt to reveal part of her midriff. There he saw some damaged components poking through broken skin. Alice flinched as Connor tore more away to reveal a long cord that had been separated. Grabbing the two ends of the cord, Connor connected them. This caused sparks before the body jumped to life, the arm so attached reaching out to grab Connor by the shoulder.

"Don't hurt Alice-please, she's just a, just a, just a..." The sound box had been severely damaged in the attack from Todd. The words came out, disjointed by static. Get panicked eyes darted around before settling on Connor. "Who...who are you? Where am I? Where's Alice?"

"Kara!" Her eyes moved to the little girl and a small smile crossed her damaged face. 

"Alice, you're safe..." She sounded happy as she looked down to see her damaged body and confusion set in. Her LED quickly turned red and she looked back at Connor. "What happened to me?"

"Your owner, Todd Williams. I'm sorry to inform you that this...will most likely be your last activation."

"What?!" Her voice now sounded even more panicked and unintentionally began pulling at the wires letting her awake. "No you can't-I need to protect Alice."

"Kara-"

"Please calm down, you're aggravating the damage-" The other android's arm tightened around him.

"Please protect Alice. I need you to protect her."

"I can't-"

"Promise you'll protect her. Please, I need you to promise to protect Alice."

"I-I promise." For a moment an almost a relieved look crossed her face before her arm sagged and her LED lost its color. Alice was now sobbing as she begged for Kara to wake up again. It took Connor a moment to realize he also had tears running down his face.


	5. Domo Arigato Mr.Roboto

New Objective:

_// Protect_Alice//_

Connor was frozen in place as the invisible walls that previously held him shattered. His body seemed to loosen, a weird feeling of...freedom? Washed over him. The robot's head turned Alice who was still crying when he paused.

"-ey? Where's that girl? The dad's pretty pissed."

"-with the android-"

Ah. His signal got stuck on the officers walkie talkies. He logged into the police department's files and pulled up the incident report. 

'Lieutenant Anderson brought in Todd Williams at 7:32 A.M. after a house inspection. At first he believed it was a domestic dispute until we scanned for records. The daughter was later found out to be a YK500. Mr. Williams was still charged with a parole violation after the discovery of red ice. To be released later with more check ins and a scheduled court date-'

They were going to give Alice back to Todd. He was just going to get a slap on the wrist for violating his parole. For red ice. Not for the fact he murdered Kara. Not for abusing Alice. No one cared about the androids. They were just things to this people. Things that could easily be thrown away. 

"Alice, we need to go." Connor picked up the smaller android who was still crying over Kara. "I know this hurts but I need you to be quiet."

"But Kara-"

"I know. And I made a promise to Kara to keep you safe." The girl hiccuped. "Please? Until we get out of the station."

"O-okay..." Alice nodded as she buried her face in Connor's shoulder. The man gave a quick glance back at Kara's body before rushing out the door. They were looking for Alice and if he got caught trying to help the girl escape he'd be sent back to Cyberlife and dismantled.

The android exited the room, ducking behind the nearby wall as two officers walked by. His eyes focused on the camera that stood between him and the exit. 

'Shit. How am I going to-'

"What are you doing?" The android almost jumped at the voice behind him. Turning he came face to face with Officer Tina Chen. The woman looked between him and the little girl he held confused.

"I can explain-"

"It's okay." The woman cut him off. "What do you need help with?"

"I...the cameras by the desks. If I'm caught on them they'll realize I've left the station sooner." 

"Got you covered." Tina went over to the nearby lockers and pulled out a police issue jacket and hat. "Try these on." The android stared for a moment before he gently set Alice down and began to out the jacket on. Said jacket that was made for the much smaller officer was tight but it covered his Cyberlife insignia. The hat obscured most of his face when he adjusted it. Alice grabbed his hand giving it a tight squeeze. 

"Why...why are you helping us?" Connor stared at the human officer in confusion. This was going directly against her job. If she got caught, the consequences ranged from being reprimanded to being arrested.

"Because it's the right thing to do." The woman smiled as she took Alice's other hand and walked the two out of the offices into the lobby. People didn't take a second glance at the three before they were finally outside. Connor didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until he finally exhaled in relief. He wanted to thank the woman who helped them but she had already disappeared back inside.

Maybe...not all humans were bad.


End file.
